International News - Issue 228

Ozil Ruled Out Till
Next year

Arsenal attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil is hoping he can be
'back on the pitch soon' after being ruled out until the new year through
injury. It was revealed last week that Ozil would be out for up to
three months with knee ligament damage. The 25-year-old, who picked up the
injury during his time on international duty with Germany, has been sent back
to his club after undergoing scans. Ozil has since thanked the Arsenal fans for
the support he has received and is looking forward to representing the club
once again. The German playmaker tweeted: 'Thanks for your support following my
injury. I'll come back on the pitch soon as I can to help #AFC. Now and in the
future #MiaSanArsenal.'

Sir Alex Ferguson
felt Manchester United needed the big-money injection of talent provided by
manager Louis van Gaal and chief executive Ed Woodward. United responded to
a poor first season after Ferguson's retirement by bringing in Van Gaal, who
has spent heavily since his arrival, signing Daley Blind, Angel di Maria,
Radamel Falcao, Ander Herrera, Marcus Rojo and Luke Shaw. The new signings have
helped United into the top four already despite some indifferent performances,
and Ferguson believes fresh faces were needed. Referring to the £59million
capture of Di Maria from Real Madrid, he told MUTV: "When you can identify
ability like that for Manchester United, they have the resources to do that -
fees I never quite equalled but they needed a big injection this year." On
the other signings he added: "Herrera played against us three years ago
for Bilbao, he's a talented young player and we scouted him quite a lot. He's
quite aggressive for a lad who's not got a great frame. I watched Rojo at the
World Cup and thought he did well. He's capable of playing left side or centre
back. Luke Shaw we tried to get when he was 16. They (Southampton) wouldn't
sell him but they always said we'd be the first to know if he did. He's a
talented boy, good footballer and likes to get forward. Daley Blind is a
common-sense footballer, a version of Darren Fletcher a few years ago. And
Falcao is the one we're all waiting to see, he's got fantastic goalscoring
ability." Despite the big-money arrivals, Ferguson is pleased that Van
Gaal has decided to use the club's academy as well. He added: "The
rebuilding of the team, they've brought in some good quality which is really
important because you need quality at Manchester United, you need the best
players. What's pleased me about Louis is he's given about seven of the young
kids their debuts, which falls into line with the history of the club. I think
the supporters will respond well when a young player gets his
opportunity." Ferguson was often pictured in the stands last season as the
man he initially chose to replace him, David Moyes, struggled to get the team
performing.

England manager Roy
Hodgson has risked inflaming his already simmering feud with Brendan Rodgers by
criticising the Liverpool manager's method of keeping Raheem Sterling fit. Hodgson's
relationship with Rodgers was again put in the spotlight after he claimed
Liverpool midfielder Raheem Sterling asked to be excluded from the England team
for Sunday's 1-0 win in Estonia because he felt tired. Shortly after revealing
the details of the conversation with Sterling, Hodgson told Rodgers he must do
his bit to ensure the 19-year-old does not suffer from further physical and
mental fatigue. The 67-year-old then went a step further by criticising one of
the methods Rodgers uses to try to ensure his quickest players, presumably
including Sterling, recover properly from matches. Rodgers revealed last month
that he is a strong believer in giving his "fast" players two-days to
recover from matches due to the stresses and strains their speed causes on
their bodies. Rodgers spoke of his frustration at Hodgson's refusal to adopt
the two-day recovery method for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge last month
after he pulled a thigh muscle during a sprint at an England training session.
And it is understood Rodgers also gives Sterling two days off after games as he
thinks it aids the pacy player's return to peak fitness. But Hodgson says there
is little evidence the programme benefits players' recovery times. "Raheem
might say it is something that is becoming ingrained in him and that he felt
the need to talk about being tired more than he would normally do,"
Hodgson said. "But we have never had any problems with that. I don't think
there is a lot of medical evidence to support the 'two-day recovery'. So if you
want to, you might want to research that one. Certainly, the Germans who you
admire so much -- they don't do it. That is for certain. I would expect players
not to take it for granted that there will be two-day recoveries." In the
early hours of Monday morning Sterling responded on Twitter to those who had
ridiculed him for asking to be rested just eight weeks into the season.
"Now listening too.. Excuse me for being human??," the 19-year-old
wrote after retweeting two critical messages posted to him on the
micro-blogging website. I think I should speak to Brendan, but it really is
very simple and I am sure he understands that situation," Hodgson said.

Meanwhile, England
captain Wayne Rooney has revealed he will celebrate racking up a century of
caps by walking out at Wembley next month with his two children. Rooney
will soon be bracketed alongside the likes of Bobby Moore, David Beckham and
Bobby Charlton, with his 100th cap set to arrive in next month's European
Championship qualifier against Slovenia. "It will be great. It's a great
honour to get 100 caps for England," Rooney said. "I did not think it
was possible when I first got into the team. Obviously my two boys will walk
onto the pitch with me, but that will be it I think."

Chelsea boss Jose
Mourinho has revealed he rejected two approaches from Paris Saint-Germain to
become the French club's coach. Mourinho, who returned for a second spell
as Chelsea manager in the summer of 2013, claims he was offered the chance
twice to take charge of the French club before and after former Chelsea manager
Carlo Ancelotti's arrival and subsequent departure. The Portuguese claims he
considered the offers, but decided to stay at Real Madrid at the time of the
first offer, while he decided to return to Chelsea when the second offer came
about. "I knew about the project (at PSG) even before it began. I was
Leonardo’s first choice (ahead of Ancelotti)," Mourinho told French
football programme Telefoot. "And when Carlo left (in 2013), they made me
another offer. I have rejected them twice. I want to stay at Chelsea for as
many years as possible. I have no other project than managing at Chelsea where
I want to be."

Liverpool have yet another potential injury setback following
news that Dejan Lovren has withdrawn from Serbia’s Euro 2016 qualifiers.
The defender, who joined the Reds from Southampton, was meant to square up
to Bulgaria and Azerbaijan before being struck down with an abdominal injury.
“During training on Wednesday Lovren felt pain in the abdominal wall,” a
statement read. “Igor Boric [a specialist] at St Catherine showed there was a
tear and he will not be ready for performances in Sofia and Osijek.” It’s the
latest setback for Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who also lost star
striker Daniel Sturridge on England duty, as well as Joe Allen. French defender
Mamadou Sakho is also out. Kolo Toure is expected to start alongside Martin
Skrtel for the Reds this weekend.

Neil Lennon’s absence
from the dugout has been confined to just six months after the Northern
Irishman was confirmed as the new manager of Bolton Wanderers. Lennon
signed a three-year deal with the Bolton club that sit at the foot of the
Championship. The news may be a disappointment to Fulham who, it is believed,
had identified him as a leading candidate for their vacant managerial role. Lennon
left Celtic in May after four years in charge of a club he had earlier
captained, and having won three titles in a row as manager. He believed he had
taken Celtic as far as he could, and he was also increasingly disillusioned
with the Scottish football scene. The 43-year-old’s coaching staff, Johan
Mjallby and Garry Parker, will join him at Bolton.

AC Milan owner Silvio
Berlusconi is shedding no tears over the departure of Italian striker Mario
Balotelli. Balotelli's form fluctuated in an 18-month spell at the San Siro
prior to his joining Liverpool in a £16 million deal in August. "I
remember he was bought against my advice," Berlusconi told La Gazzetta
dello Sport, referring to Balotelli's arrival at Milan in January 2013 from
Manchester City. "We have many champions: [Jeremy] Menez, [Keisuke] Honda,
[Stephan] El Shaarawy, [Fernando] Torres, [Nigel] De Jong...The base is there.
And we no longer have a rotten apple in the dressing room."

Chelsea striker Diego
Costa is relieved to have finally ended his international goal drought after
scoring in Spain’s 4-0 victory over Luxembourg on Sunday night. Despite
netting nine goals in seven matches for his club, the Brazilian-born forward
was yet to score for his adopted country in six prior matches heading into
their Euro 2016 qualifier against European minnows Luxembourg. Costa eventually
opened his international account, controlling a bobbing ball in the Luxembourg
box to turn and fire home Spain’s third in the 69th minute as La Furia Roja
recorded a comfortable 4-0 win to get their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back
on track. The goal brought Costa great relief, having gone 515 minutes, and
taken 26 shots at goal, before finally finding the back of the net for his
country. “I have to thank the coach for his support,” Costa told TVE. “Every
game he gave me another chance. “It was starting really bother me. It bothered
me that I wasn’t scoring but what really bothered me that the team were losing.
But this goal will give me a new start.”

Former Manchester
City coach Roberto Mancini has claimed credit for the quality of today’s side
managed by Chilean boss Manuel Pellegrini. Mancini, who recently had his
contract at Turkish giants Galatasaray cancelled after one year at the club,
feels his contribution in his four-year reign at City is still yielding
dividends. “I think that we started to build this team five years ago,"
Mancini said. "In two years we won the Premier League, the FA Cup, we won
everything in England. And this current team are playing nine of my players all
of the time. I am very happy with that because I know these players. The
Italian also credits himself for building the current Barclays Premier League
side from the ground up, and says it was not easy to do so in the somewhat
short period he was with “The Citizens”. "I think it's not easy to build a
strong team with only four or five years. They are a team like Bayern Munich,
Real Madrid and Barcelona ... big teams that have been like that for 50 years. You
need the time to improve. But [Manchester City] have a big chance also to be
one of the best teams in Europe," added Mancini.

Three days after Rivaldo Coetzee became the youngest ever
Bafana Bafana player, Martin Oedegaard played for Norway well before his 16th
birthday. Coetzee was six days shy of his 18th birthday when he
started in the 2-0 win against Congo in Pointe Noire. However, Oedegaard broke
a long-standing European Championships record when he came on as a substitute
in Norway’s 2-1 qualifying win against Belarus, aged 15 years and 300 days.
"I was a bag of nerves when I came on, but with the welcome I got from the
crowd I just had to smile and get on with it.” However, Oedegaard is far off
the record for the youngest ever international. That honour belongs to Lucas
Knecht, who was 14 years and two days when he represented Northern Marianas in
a 9-0 win against Guam in 2007.

Barcelona right-back
Dani Alves feels that he is star player Lionel Messi’s right-hand man,
believing to have set up more of the Argentine’s goals than any other team
mate. The 31-year-old, who joined the Catalans from Sevilla in 2008, has
assisted 85 goals in his 304 appearances for his club so far, and claims he is
the leading assister in setting up golden boy Lionel Messi to score. “I've set
up more goals for Messi than anyone at Barcelona,” Alves said. “That's a fact. The
cross for Messi's goal No 400 for Barca was mine. In Barca's first Club World
Cup Leo's winning goal came from my cross. Some people might not like it, but
it's there for everyone to see.” There has been widespread speculation of the
Brazilian’s future at the camp Nou, as he stated last week: “This will be my
last season at Barcelona. Next year I will move to England. I want to play in
the birthplace of football.” However, Alves seems to have back-tracked on his
previous remarks, saying he wishes to remain with the La Liga giants until his current
deal, which ends in June next year, expires, and possibly beyond.

Real Madrid boss
Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that predecessor Jose Mourinho had a number of
dressing room issues with his players during his tenure with the Galacticos. Mourinho
was reported to have had a number of spats with various players, including
Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas, during his spell at the Santiago Bernabeu, and
current manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted to knowing of such problems when he
began his stint at the helm last year. “Before I arrived I was aware that there
were lots of problems in the dressing room – problems between some players and
Mourinho,” Ancelotti said. “Everything that happened in private would end up in
the papers the next day. But when I took charge, everything had returned to
calm." The Italian however said that everything had been cleared before he
arrived, and that it was not he that restored peace to the dressing room. “I
didn’t inherit any tensions,” he said. “Was I responsible for returning peace
to the dressing room? No, no. When I arrived there was already a lot of
serenity.” The former PSG, Chelsea and Milan coach said that his team is now a
unified and cohesive unit under his mentorship. “Ever since I arrived, there
hasn’t been one fight in the dressing room,” he said. “I have never had an
unmotivated player or any confrontations with players who haven’t played as
much as they’d want to.”

Cristiano Ronaldo
says his rivalry with Lionel Messi is a "positive" thing. The
star attackers are widely considered the best of their generation, with the two
players scooping six of the last Ballon d'Or awards between them. Ronaldo says
he is used to being compared with the Barcelona icon and understands where it
comes from. "This is part of my life," Ronaldo said when asked what
his thoughts on the rivalry with Messi are. "It is normal that people
compare us. I am used to it. It happened to me at Manchester United and I know
how to manage it. "We are football colleagues. Outside of football I have
no relationship with Messi, but not with other players either. It is a positive
rivalry."

Theo Walcott has given Arsenal fans a timely boost by
returning to first-team training. The

England winger has been out of
action since January after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury against
Tottenham in the FA Cup. However, just as the Gunners’ treatment table was
beginning to overflow, Walcott has made his long-awaited return to first-team
duties. It’s unlikely the 25-year-old will start for Arsenal at home to Hull on
Saturday, but he may be fit enough for a place on the bench. Arsene Wenger also
offered fans encouragement that Olivier Giroud could return sooner than
initially expected after making good progress in his recovery from a broken
foot.

Roy Hodgson should
have kept his conversation with Raheem Sterling private, says Jamie Carragher. The
England manager revealed the Liverpool winger told him he was feeling tired and
so decided to bench the 19-year-old for the 1-0 win over Estonia. Sterling came
on for the final 25 minutes and won the free-kick which Rooney scored to give
Hodgson’s men victory in Tallinn. But the post-match debate has centered over
his conversation with the England manager, and Carragher believes it is
something which should have been left behind closed doors. “We can debate
whether Raheem Sterling should say that to the manager – for me, as a player,
I’d never give the manager an opportunity to leave me out," said the Sky
Sports pundit. “I just think, whether he is tired or if he didn’t feel right
before the game, keep that between yourselves. Listening to Roy Hodgson – let’s
not forget Adam Lallana came on for Sterling and did really well against San
Marino – he may have been looking to [rest him]. Just come out after the game
and say ‘I played Lallana, he came on and did well in the last game, I think
Raheem needs a little bit of a rest’ and talk about it then. Rather than now,
where there’s going to be a debate about Raheem Sterling and is he right at
that age to be asking things like that? Roy Hodgson could have been a bit more
careful with what he said before the game and after the game, and we wouldn’t
be having these discussions now".

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